Serenade of Water
by StormChanger
Summary: Princess Ruto, the young Zora of hyrule. This story fills in the gaps of the seven years between the day her and Link first met, till the day they met as adults.
1. Sapphire of Sorrow

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, places, etc. **

"Father, I'm going to feed Jabu Jabu." A young Zora, hands full of fish, goes up the pathway to the Great Fountain.

"Be careful Ruto," The Zora king scoots so that his daughter can pass. It takes Ruto awhile to get up to the entrance, so they have a little chat.

"Father, who was that man?"

"He was from the desert, dear."

"What did he want?"

"Nothing," he snaps, "carry on with the feeding," Ruto doesn't budge. "Ruto, either I have a servant do your task, or you do it now." Ruto lets out an irritated breath. She walks past her father with a, "hmph."

Outside it is bright out. Clouds lace the azure sky, with the break of dawn at the base. Her eyes skim the familiar place. The tree that holds a secret, and the great fairy that lies just after the tree, hidden by a sheet of rock. Then, the forbidden cavern. Ruto recalls the time she snuck in there once.

Damp, and dark, it smelled of wood rot. Awful odors mixed in with hardly visible light filled the room, choking the life out of her. She had lost her way for hours, days even. Her mind started to slip into fear, making her unaware of her surroundings. She moved too quickly as she was searching for the exit, and tripped over the stalagmites. Landing on a single stalagmite, it pierced her left arm which caused her to let out a shrill scream. The last thing she saw was two pale blue arms scooping her up. Then she awoke the next day, at her personal rest spot, her arm bandaged, with her worries cast away.

Ruto makes her way to the great Jabu Jabu. He's a whale of an enormous size. He wears the royal garments that her mother made long ago. Her mother had a valuable possesion that she intrusted Ruto with. She gave it to her a moment before she passed on to the great heavens. The Great Heavens was a place that all the creatures in the world would go to when they passed. It was a beautiful place, where Zora's swam in the sky, where Gorons ate all the rocks they could fill their stomachs with, and where the Kokiri could play all day.

The stone her mother entrusted her with was a beautiful set of three saphires held together by a gold edging. She kept it on a gold chain around her neck at all times because it meant a lot to her. It was the only possession her mother had given her. A momento as you could say.

Ruto pressed on to Jaba Jabu. She laid the fish at his mouth, and waited for him to react. She rested by his side, and noticed that he looked sickly. His royal blue color had dimmed to a murky blue-ish brown. She rested her hand on his snout(rostrum is the actual term), and began to rub it.

"Oh Jabu Jabu, you don't look so good." He made a funny sound, and opened his mouth, sucking up the fish. Then her gold chain was picked up in the air, along with the stone. Ruto tried to hold it in her hand, but the chain broke off before she could. She watched as her sapphire went down a whale's throat.

"Oh!" Ruto gasped, and stood by Jabu Jabu in shock for quite some tine. She hurried out of the fountain, and found herself hurrying down the pathway from her father's quarters.

"Finished feeding him Ruto?" All that was on her mind was the stone.

"Yes," she responded quickly, and headed to the store to purchase a bottle.

"What's it for princess?" The shop owned took the bottle off the shelf, and held it before he gave it to her.

"I wanted to catch a few fish for Jabu Jabu with it."

"Well, why not buy a fish here, we have them fresh." Ruto shook her head, and put her hand out for the bottle.

"Suit yourself." Shrugging, the shop keeper hands her the bottle.

"Do you have any paper?"

"Why yes, I do." Ruto smiles, and hands him 100 ruppees. He hands her the paper without any questions this Ruto makes her way out of the shop, Ruto's ears catches a few words from him.

"Strange kid."

From her dad's quarters she grabs a vile of ink, and her favorite writing quill. She writes on the paper.

"I am in Lord Jabu Jabu's belly. Come and help me.

Don't tell my father,"

=Princess Ruto

After she finishes writing, she rolls up the paper, and places it in the bottle. Then she walks over to the diving area and throws the bottle in the waterfall.

With the note in the bottle thrown, she heads up the smooth coral colored path, leading to the the Great Fountain. Without fear she walks over to Jabu Jabu, places a fish by his mouth, and shuts her eyes as she's sucked in.


	2. Search Whale, but do NOT pop bubbles

**Well, here it is. The 2nd Chapter. Hopefully it's ok, and does what it needs to do. I had a hard time writing it, but I decided that Ruto might need to search for her stone for a bit.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda. All rights belong to Nintendo.**

"Gyhhaaa, uuullcckkk!" Ruto plugs her nose at the odor. "Ehwwwhhhu, Jabu Jabu, what have you been eating?" The young princess puts her arm up to her face to subside the smell, yet it is still awful. She's been in here plenty of times before, but for some reason it's different. The aroma for one, reeks of rotten seaweed, and decaying fish flesh.

Suddenly, two octopuses with purple skin, and daunting yellow eyes spring up from the pools of saliva. "Eeek!" Chesnut colored seeds the size of Ruto's fist, are hurled at her. Without hesitation, she grabs one, and then another. Sprinting toward the foriegn creature, she kicks it up into the air. The octupus lands on the roof of Jabu Jabu's mouth, and stays. It won't be long before he falls, so Ruto uses on of the spare seeds to knock out the other.

With one seed in her hand, she continues toward the the throat. Murky brown seaweed covers the entrance to Jabu Jabu's throat. With the last seed in her hand, Ruto throws it at a piece of askew flesh potruding from the roof of the mouth. The seaweed blocking the entrance falls off the opening, and Ruto enters the throat.

Around her she can see that the healthy red color of Jabu Jabu's throat is now discolored. It's more dull than before, and has weird tinges of color to it. The lining of the throat is a mixture of pink and red, it jiggles and moves as air is circulated throughout the throat.

Her eyes spot a squishy figure embedded in the ground, as she moves past it, a jellyfish with a blue top, and violet tentacles pops up. Out of curiosity she touches the top of it, and finds that it's squishy. "Oooh, this is a weird texture." Her hands slip down to the tentacles as the jellyfish moves upward.

Blue currents move over Ruto causing her to fall to her feet. Spasms and shudders ripple over the young zora's body. "Aaauuhhhhhggg," her trembling fingers move away from the jellyfish to prevent another encounter with it. The electricity leaves Ruto on the throat lining, disoriented and thoroughly shocked.

"You're just full of surprises Jabu Jabu."

Once fully recovered, she pushes herself off the ground. Making her way down the throat, she enters a part of Jabu Jabu with four swirling holes. There's a seaweed colored piece of flesh, extending from the top to the bottom of it. More jellyfish make their way around the room. Out of fear, Princess Ruto makes a run for it, slipping along the flesh flooring, and down a hole she goes. Hurdling face forward, she drops down to a lower level, and somersaults to soften the fall.

"Phew! That was close," she brushes herself off as she rises from the ledge. At the ledge, Ruto decides to give the room a once over. Tilting her head up, then down, right, left, she scans all around, yet her eyes fail to spot any sparks of sapphire.

Sighing, she jumps off the ledge, and onto the ground. There are more jellyfish, and a few bouncing bubbles.

"Must," Ruto clenches her fist, "resist," her eyes close this time, "urge." She scrunches her face, and whirls her head, similar to a gesture that signifies, NO. She repeats herself, and adds more words. "Must. Resist. Urge. To. Pop. Bubbles." Her voice is on the brink of losing it, and her lips stammer as her left eyelid begins to twitch. "AAAHGGA!" She loses it, and begins to dash at the bubble with crazed irises. Princess Ruto smacks into the bubble, popping it.

A filthy film of grime coats her skin. The young princess buckles over and begins to spew her guts out at the awful stench. Once it's over, she wipes her face off, and shakes herself. "Never again." Continuing onward, Ruto skims her current surroundings.

She spots a patch of green weed that trails up to the upper floor. "Maybe I should climb this," her thought is voiced out loud, bouncing off the flesh of Jabu Jabu. _The note in the bottle! What if there's someone looking for me! _Anxious to reach the upper level she makes her way to the patch of green. Two zora hands grasp the weed, and grab tangible weed above one another in a swift and rhymic motion. It's a bit slimy, yet Ruto manages to keep a firm grip, and haul herself upward.

Once at the end of the weed, and at the upper level, she lets go of it, and skips to the ground, careful to avoid a sucking hole. Giving herself a few moments of rest, she catches her breath. Her eyelids become heavy with sleep, and shut out her dull pink surroundings.


End file.
